Unlock better security this World Password Day
May 1 is World Password Day, dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of strong, unique passwords. In an ever-evolving digital landscape, it can be hard to feel confident you’re taking the right steps to keep your accounts secure. But when it comes to cyber security, our passwords are much more powerful than we think. Practicing good password hygiene is an effective tool to help prevent bad actors from accessing our accounts to steal funds and/or personal information.
Learn how you can help unlock better security directly from the experts in BMO’s Financial Crimes Unit.
What is good password hygiene?
Good password hygiene refers to a set of best practices that, when used together, can help keep your accounts secure from bad actors.
Tips for good password hygiene:
- Create passwords that are at least 8 characters long, using numbers, upper- and lower-case letters and special characters. The more characters, the better!
- Use passphrases. An example is: I love to ski downhill like a star, which becomes 1l0VEtsdhla*.
- Never use birthdays, anniversaries, pet’s or children’s names, seasons or common phrases like password, 1234561 2 3 4 5 6 or qwerty.
- Never reuse old passwords or share the same password across multiple profiles/websites.
- Change your passwords regularly.
- Never share your passwords.
- Do not store your passwords in:
- Public browsers or shared computers.
- Cloud-based applications like Google Drive or OneDrive.
- Email, text messages or other communication tools.
Taking good password hygiene to the next level
When available, multifactor authentication (MFA) is a great way to supplement good password hygiene and help keep your accounts secure. MFA is an authentication approach that uses more than one form of authentication to verify the legitimacy of a person or transaction. The goal of MFA is to make it more difficult for unauthorized access to a system or a computer by creating a layered defense. In some cases, biometrics can be used to verify your identity through unique physical characteristics, like your face, fingerprint or voice.
For BMO customers, another way to help safeguard your accounts is to sign up for notifications including BMO Alerts. These types of alerts make it easy to keep track of your account activity and monitor for suspicious transactions. Be sure to keep your contact information up to date by signing in to online banking (check out this demo) or visiting your local BMO branch.
